Now that Kevin Durant is leaving Oklahoma City, is Russell Westbrook next? The Thunder point guard still has one year left on his current contract, and ESPN's Brian Windhorst is reporting that OKC is interested in trying to get him to commit to a long-term extension this summer. But if they aren’t able to do it, Windhorst reports the team might try and trade him away so that they can rebuild their team in light of the loss of KD.
The report obviously has a lot of NBA fans on Twitter talking. Some people (including us!) are poking fun at Westbrook for getting left behind by Durant:
But the vast majority are trying to come up with trade ideas that would help get Westbrook out of OKC and give the Thunder something in return to jumpstart their rebuild. They would also help the other 29 teams keep pace with the Warriors. If we had to guess, the Thunder are probably going to keep Westbrook, because as some NBA analysts and bloggers have already pointed out, Westbrook is likely going to go all out next season now that he's running the team, which will be fun for everyone. But if the Thunder do decide to get rid of Westbrook, there are plenty of trade options out there, at least according to Twitter. Check out a handful of them below:
How about Westbrook and a second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers in exchange for Kevin Love?
Or Westbrook to the Heat for some combination of Goran Dragic, Justise Winslow, and Josh Richardson?
Or possibly Westbrook to the Lakers for D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram?
There’s also this idea of sending Westbrook to the Celtics for Jaylen Brown, Avery Bradley, and draft picks:
And this one about shipping Westbrook to the Nuggets for Emmanuel Mudiay, Danilo Gallinari, and draft picks:
Oh, and this one about trading Westbrook to the Timberwolves for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, and two first-round draft picks:
And finally, there’s this proposal that’s hard to follow but, hey, it sure seems like a lot of fun:
Even current NBA players are weighing in with (slightly very hostile?) ideas:
This is getting insane. What do you think the Thunder should do with Westbrook? To check out some of the Westbrook trade ideas we came up with last season, go here.
